Chapter 239: Sage Art: Nine Aspects Rotation Kill
After Orochimaru recalled the reanimated Tobirama to use as a meat shield, Kitsuchi, Yashamaru, Mangetsu Hoshigaki, and Yatsuki Hikari felt a wave of relief wash over them. The tension that had stretched their nerves to the breaking point finally eased.
But the reprieve lasted mere seconds.
Before they could catch their breath, Orochimaru wound their nerves right back up to maximum tension.
An eight-headed, eight-tailed serpentine monstrosity with pale white scales materialized in the heart of Iwagakure.
The ninja world had no formal term for "fear of giant creatures," but every shinobi understood one fundamental truth: size correlated directly with destructive power. The larger the body, the greater the devastation.
This was what made the Tailed Beasts so terrifying. Even without using techniques like the Tailed Beast Ball, even when they harbored no hostile intent whatsoever, their mere existence caused massive environmental destruction. In uninhabited wilderness this wasn't an issue, but any populated area simply couldn't withstand the presence of such creatures.
Right now, Orochimaru's Forbidden Art: Eight-Headed Serpent Technique demonstrated this destructive power perfectly. Its arrival alone had flattened half a street in Iwagakure. If it actually moved around freely, how much of the village would remain intact was anyone's guess.
Kitsuchi's eyes turned bloodshot.
His rage nearly exploded as he prepared to charge at the eight-headed serpent.
However, Yashamaru, Mangetsu, and Yatsuki grabbed him and held him back.
They certainly didn't mind if Kitsuchi threw his life away—the more elite ninja from other villages who died, the better. In fact, they'd celebrate such losses. But the problem was that the Rinnegan was currently on Kitsuchi's person.
If you're going to get yourself killed, at least don't take the Rinnegan with you!
Restrained by the others, Kitsuchi remembered the Rinnegan he carried and instantly regained his composure. But the fury burning in his chest refused to subside.
Especially when he saw Hyuga Ritsu being driven back step by step, his heart clenched. He couldn't help but consider whether to deploy the Five-Tails jinchuriki Han into battle.
Up until this point, the Five-Tails jinchuriki had not appeared.
On one front, Ritsu fought Orochimaru at the Research Institute. On another, Onoki personally engaged the reanimated First Hokage, Third Kazekage, and Fourth Kazekage in the village's southwest district. Through it all, the Five-Tails jinchuriki had never shown himself.
This didn't mean Han wasn't in the village.
Rather, the Five-Tails jinchuriki was Iwagakure's reserve force—a final card to be played only in the direst circumstances.
Before Kitsuchi could make the decision to commit Han to battle against the massive serpent Orochimaru had become, he witnessed something that seemed like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Ritsu threw a punch.
Then the chariot's wheel shattered against the mantis's arm.
One of the Eight-Headed Serpent's eight heads suddenly exploded. Blood mixed with brain matter rained down on Iwagakure like a storm, painting buildings and streets red and white. Chunks of shattered bone fell from above, easily collapsing houses beneath their weight.
This unexpected development left Kitsuchi and the others stunned speechless. None of them understood how Ritsu's small body had destroyed one of the Eight-Headed Serpent's mountain-sized heads.
As the victim, Orochimaru gained some insight into what had happened.
It must be sage techniques.
But not one of the inherited techniques from Ryuchi Cave—he hadn't mastered sage techniques himself, but he knew every sage art passed down through Ryuchi Cave intimately. He was certain the cave possessed no frontal assault sage technique with this kind of raw destructive power.
Therefore, this must be a sage technique Ritsu had developed himself.
He clearly felt his exploded head suffer nine distinct strikes of overwhelming force in the instant it detonated, crushing his skull like crumbling a wafer cookie inside its packaging.
"What technique is that?"
All seven remaining serpent mouths spoke with Orochimaru's voice simultaneously.
"Sage Art: Nine Aspects Rotation Kill."
Ritsu answered with a smile.
In the next instant, using the tremendous propulsion provided by Sage Art: Wind Release Chakra Mode, he resisted the planet's gravitational pull and moved laterally through midair, positioning himself before another of the Eight-Headed Serpent's heads.
He threw another punch.
Nine distinct, perfectly separated torrents of overwhelming force struck the serpent head, once again reducing it to pulp. Blood, brain matter, and bone fragments scattered everywhere, even though Orochimaru consciously tried to dodge this time.
But this revealed the disadvantage of enormous size.
Everything had pros and cons.
Massive size indeed brought terrifying destructive power, but it also drastically reduced evasion capabilities.
Of course, giant bodies typically possessed extremely strong defensive capabilities, making ordinary attacks negligible. But when facing attacks that could penetrate those defenses, the problem became critical.
A massive body was simply a target impossible to miss even without aiming.
And Ritsu's Sage Art: Nine Aspects Rotation Kill was specialized ammunition designed for such oversized targets. He'd developed this technique by imitating Otsutsuki Kaguya's Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack, using the Hyuga clan's Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm as its foundation. Drawing on insights gained from studying the Rinnegan, he'd ultimately created this offensive technique that could be considered a degraded version of the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack.
This was the fruit of his Rinnegan research.
Though merely a degraded version of the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack, its power still ranked among high-level offensive ninjutsu. The term "degraded" depended entirely on what you compared it to.
"Sage Art: Nine Aspects Rotation Kill?"
"Impressive."
Orochimaru's voice turned ice cold.
Praise dripped with bone-chilling killing intent.
Though he still had six intact heads remaining, his twelve surviving eyes could see clearly that Ritsu's breathing remained steady, showing no signs of fatigue. It appeared he could unleash many more similar attacks.
Six heads probably wouldn't be enough to satisfy Ritsu's appetite.
Therefore, continuing this death struggle served no purpose.
His Orochimaru Style Substitution couldn't truly neutralize every attack. He had no desire to test whether it could handle Ritsu's Sage Art: Nine Aspects Rotation Kill.
After deploying the Forbidden Art: Eight-Headed Serpent Technique—a trump card he'd never revealed before—Orochimaru felt he'd more than repaid any debt to Uchiha Tatsuhata. He had absolutely no reason to fight to the death for Tatsuhata's sake.
Though failing to seize the Rinnegan tonight left him deeply disappointed, this operation hadn't been completely fruitless. This battle with Ritsu was his greatest gain. Using his Sharingan, he'd glimpsed just how terrifying Ritsu's physical body truly was.
This sparked a fountain of inspiration within him.
So when Ritsu prepared to destroy Orochimaru's third head, Orochimaru voluntarily released the Eight-Headed Serpent Technique. The towering presence dominating Iwagakure vanished without a trace.
At the center of the widespread ruins, Orochimaru stood on broken bricks and rubble, his skin pale as paper. He looked up at Ritsu diving down from above at tremendous speed.
In the next second, as Ritsu raised his fist to strike, the scattered body of the reanimated Tobirama had already fully restored itself. Tobirama appeared beside Orochimaru and grabbed his shoulder.
BOOM—
The force of Nine Aspects Rotation Kill struck the ground, creating an enormous crater.
But Orochimaru's corpse was nowhere to be found at the bottom.
At the critical moment, the reanimated Tobirama had used Flying Thunder God to evacuate Orochimaru. Ritsu's Byakugan clearly saw Orochimaru reappear at the southwest district battlefield.
Orochimaru intervened to rescue the sealed Fourth Kazekage, then voluntarily released the Reanimation Jutsu, returning the souls of the Fourth Kazekage, First Hokage, and Third Kazekage to the Pure Land.
Then the reanimated Tobirama took Orochimaru and used Flying Thunder God again. This time, they completely left Iwagakure, disappearing from Ritsu's field of vision.
The flames of war were suddenly extinguished.
Onoki felt momentarily lost, uncertain what to do. This perpetually suspicious old man didn't dare let his guard down, remaining vigilant against the possibility that Orochimaru might double back for a surprise attack.
However, Ritsu felt no such concern.
The Byakugan's three-hundred-sixty-degree vision made him completely immune to ambushes. Moreover, his Byakugan could see the technique formula coordinates the reanimated Tobirama had left throughout Iwagakure. He wasn't the least bit worried about Orochimaru attempting a surprise return.
The moment Orochimaru fled, Ritsu immediately rushed to Kakashi.
"Kakashi, what did Lord Hokage say when he came to find you earlier?" Ritsu asked, still in Sage Mode with Sage Art: Wind Release Chakra Mode active.
He genuinely wasn't afraid of Orochimaru returning for a second round. Rather, he was prepared to return to the village and continue battling Uchiha Tatsuhata.
"Sensei came looking for you, Clan Head Hyuga, but you were occupied at the time, so he left in a hurry. He didn't tell me what happened in the village."
Kakashi quickly answered Ritsu's question, clearly having prepared for this.
This response matched Ritsu's expectations. Without disappointment, he said, "Kakashi, contact Lord Hokage immediately. Tell him the trouble in Iwagakure has been temporarily resolved. I can return to the village to assist at any time."
"Yes."
Kakashi responded and immediately used the pre-arranged communication method to relay the information—the old reliable approach using summoning techniques to transmit intelligence.
Ritsu stood waiting quietly.
Aika and Akiba watched him with worry in their eyes, but both maintained their silence, standing guard beside him without a word.
As for Kitsuchi and the others, before they could approach, Minato's figure appeared in Iwagakure once again.
But compared to before, Minato now looked far more battered. His right leg was missing, his body supported only by his left leg. A gruesome wound stretched from his left shoulder to his right ribs, deep enough to expose bone.
"Sensei!"
"Lord Hokage!"
Neither Kakashi nor Akiba could control their emotions. Shocked cries burst from their mouths.
But Minato had no time to exchange words with Kakashi. He stared only at Ritsu. "Clan Head Hyuga, the enemy is Uchiha Tatsuhata and Uchiha Madara. Tatsuhata controls replicas of the First and Second Hokage. I'm completely spent. I can only entrust the village's future to you."
As he spoke, he reached out with his left hand and grabbed Ritsu's shoulder. Only then did anyone notice that his left pinky finger was also missing, leaving only a bloody wound.
Ritsu remained silent.
He didn't know what to say, and there wasn't time to say anything before Minato transported him from Iwagakure back to Konoha.
What met his eyes was a battlefield as terrible as hell itself. Fire consumed the forest. Broken, charred corpses lay scattered everywhere. The air reeked of burnt protein—a nauseating stench. The entire scene looked horrifying.
However, what surprised Ritsu most was that in this hellish battlefield, a jade-green Susanoo wielding a spiral sword was being beaten one-sidedly. Inside that jade-green Susanoo was none other than Uchiha Shisui.
Tonight, Uchiha Shisui had revealed his deeply hidden trump card—the Mangekyō Sharingan.
But his condition looked terrible.
Blood flowed from his eye sockets in such quantity that it raised questions about how much remained in his body.
Beating down Shisui was a pale yellow Susanoo, along with two towering Wood Golems that seemed to touch the sky—atop the Wood Golems stood the reanimated Uchiha Madara and the replica Senju Hashirama.
The corner of Ritsu's mouth twitched at this sight.
Poor Shisui—what terrible luck!
Facing a siege of this magnitude from such powerful opponents, his fortune couldn't be worse.
No wonder the Fourth Hokage looked so battered. Facing enemies like these and surviving until now was already incredibly impressive—
Flying Thunder God Slash.
A surprise attack came from Minato's sensory blind spot.
The replica Tobirama, blade in hand, appeared beside Minato like a pale blue ghost. His sharp blade cut through Minato's left arm muscles. Blood sprayed from the wound.
Everything happened so fast. In the blink of an eye, Minato's injuries multiplied. This was only because Minato himself had reacted and dodged—otherwise that blade wouldn't have struck his arm but would have pierced straight through his heart.
Ritsu's heart clenched.
The intensity of this battlefield was shockingly high!
The replica Tobirama here displayed far greater skill than the reanimated Tobirama in Iwagakure. By comparison, the fighting intensity in Iwagakure seemed almost trivial.
That Minato had lasted until now could only be called a miracle.
Ritsu sighed inwardly, then immediately launched his counterattack. He clapped his hands together, and chakra flooded from the soles of his feet into the ground like a raging river.
Dance of the Seedling Fern.
In the next second, towering white bones erupted from the earth like bamboo shoots after rain. Each bone stood thick enough that seven or eight people couldn't wrap their arms around it.
As Ritsu traveled further down the path of atavism, drawing ever closer to becoming a true Otsutsuki, the power of his Shikotsumyaku bloodline limit had risen proportionally. Though no qualitative transformation had occurred, the quantitative increase was already substantial.
These bones naturally couldn't harm one Susanoo and two Wood Golems.
But restraining them posed no problem.
Disrupted by this suddenly erupting bone forest, the fierce offensive from the pale yellow Susanoo and both Wood Golems ground to a halt. They had no choice—without clearing these bones, they couldn't continue attacking Uchiha Shisui.
Shisui gasped for breath with difficulty, maneuvering his Susanoo to temporarily retreat and create distance.
Uchiha Tatsuhata and the reanimated Uchiha Madara didn't pursue Shisui relentlessly. Instead, they both turned their attention to Ritsu, this new disruptor who'd entered the fray.